Four New Square pupil reprimanded by BSB after drug arrest

Readers' comments (29)

• Anonymous | 29-May-2012 5:04 pm

  Anonymous | 29-May-2012 3:36 pm - I think we can all agree that as long as your mate from uni went to a comprehensive and didn't have a judge as a father then it's fine that he lost his training contract, because (1) that's how things are run and (2) there's a huge amount of overlap between the way in which City law firms, chambers and the BSB approach disciplinary matters. I doubt your mate would have experienced the same treatment from a law firm, not least because The Lawyer would have the story on its front page, wringing its hands with mock outrage (the story having been leaked to it before any criminal process was started).

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• Anonymous | 29-May-2012 5:15 pm

  Normally I wouldn't mind this, but since he went to Eton and his Dad is family judge Sir Nicholas Mostyn, I think he should be hung, drawn and quartered.

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• baldrick | 29-May-2012 5:51 pm

  de-bag and raddish the little twat I say

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• Anonymous | 29-May-2012 6:36 pm

  If only I'd received the benefit of a proper education, such that I could go around gun-toting in Chelsea garden squares and on the Champs Elysée, flashing on commuter trains and posting marijuana to my uni pals whilst remaining on the judiciary, taking narcotics at will, slapping my other half because she plated dinner up too late and fiddling my expense account to high heaven.

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• Anonymous | 29-May-2012 8:53 pm

  Wake up and smell the coffee those who are holier than thou. The guy set out to be a barrister not a member of the Plymouth brethren. Henry, brief on the way mate and well done 4 New Square- class top to bottom

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• Anonymous | 29-May-2012 11:25 pm

  He didn't do anything wrong. Nothing wrong with a small amount of recreational drugs for personal use. He isn't hurting anybody, it doesn't affect his job and it doesn't show dishonesty.

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• Anonymous | 30-May-2012 11:31 am

  Interesting story. It's hard to separate the two elements, being (a) what is the correct punishment if any for this drugs offense and (b) did his background/connections have any impact, but I think the answers have to be:
  (a) none - the drugs law are a very expensive joke, and do more harm than good; and
  (b) possibly - but look at the background of the "average" trainee barrister - what is it? I don't have an up to date answer, but I'm assuming there may be something of the 1% about it.

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• Anonymous | 30-May-2012 12:25 pm

  @anon - 29 May 3.36pm
  The key point is that dodging the tube fare is an offence of dishonesty, which is a far bigger issue for a solicitor or barrister than £40 of drugs for personal use.
  The boy went to Eton, and his father is a judge - neither are things within his control. He got a mathematics degree from Oxford and an Outstanding on the BPTC (down to his own intelligence and hard work, I expect). He's clearly exhibited poor judgement, and is paying for that in the press and by way of his police caution.
  (To me the 'elitism' arguments about law fall a bit flat - if City law firms/the Bar recruit mostly from the top 10 universities, isn't that an intellectual elitism, and what's wrong with that? Would you want to be defended at trial for a crime you didn’t commit/represented in the sale of your multi-million pound family business by an intellectual powerhouse with a first class degree from Oxford, or someone only bright enough to get a 2:2 from a former polytechnic? Which would you choose to instruct?)

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• Liam Gallagher | 30-May-2012 2:00 pm

  He's not a sportsman and he hasn't been dishonest. A harsh lesson learned and his image will forever be tainted - isn't that punishment enough?
  The number of young people who do coke nowadays is staggering. There's a wider issue to be dealt with in society at large, and curtailing a young barrister's career is not the answer.

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• Anonymous | 30-May-2012 3:10 pm

  Astonishing the number of people who seem to think that doing coke is OK and comparable to drinking Pimms!
  @11:25 - I think it probably would affect his job if he was off his face on drugs.
  @2:00 - Is the wider problem of drugs in society going to be solved by turning a blind eye and letting people off when they break the law?
  As for the denials of elitism. Give me a break. Of course it's elitism - his daddy is a judge and he went to Eton. That's what's going to appear on the biog, not that he's a cokehead.

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